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The Reluctant Road Tripper: Day 2

Pears

DAY 2 Wyoming→South Dakota→Minnesota

Well, I pretty much dozed off the whole entire time we
passed from Colorado to Wyoming since seeing so much of the same thing---grass,
grass, grass and more grass---turned out to be somewhat hypnotic and it
instantly knocked me out.

I was only able to snap this 'coz they woke me up for a stop over at a rest area. Then back I went to doze off.

To my surprise, I woke up to beautiful rolling hills and magnificent forests in South Dakota. I even spotted some horses running free on the beautiful,
green land. I wish I took better photos but there's only so much you can do when you're inside a speeding vehicle.

We drove past a huge military convoy, I think they were transporting equipment and personnel to another base.

The rolling hills was just a prelude to what I would say is
by far the highlight of my day, which was finally seeing the four Presidents
towering over the forests at Mount Rushmore!

Walking towards the Grand View Terrace, you can see the walkway decorated with all the flags of every state. Hey, there's California on the upper left. Reprezent.

My first impression? It's actually not as big as I expected it to be. It looks bigger in movies and on TV. Ha!

Just seconds before this pic was taken, I was literally huffin' and puffin' to get up on that damn thing with my sister. That's me on the left, just in case you're confused who's who.

Right down below from the Grand View Terrace, they have an
amphitheater with the famous sculpture in the background.

They have an exhibit as well right next to the amphitheater,
showcasing original artifacts and the history surrounding the famous monument. Let's get our education on!

They used this type of dynamite to make the sculpture. Talk about extreme sculpting!

They use linseed oil, white lead and granite dust to repair the stone sculptures.

They have several trails open to the public so for those of you
who are planning to visit, make sure to pack your walking/hiking shoes so you
can enjoy the trails. Unfortunately, I didn't go to any of the trails since my
parents were getting hungry and tired from all that time lying idle in the car
so we bade goodbye to the four Presidents and started heading out to find somewhere to grab lunch at.

We went down to Rapid City, South
Dakota and it won me over. It’s an urbanized area but with lots and lots of trees
and better scenery than what I’m accustomed to in Southern California (metro
area).

We dropped by and tried out Perkins, which I believe is a popular
franchise around here in the Mid-West, or at least the surrounding area. It’s got a diner-vibe to it but it's definitely more homey than Denny’s.

I ordered the Southern Chicken Biscuit platter. I wasn't selfish today, I gave mom one of my biscuits. Yey!

Wait a minute! Is that a real cowboy I see with a Dairy Queen cup ? You go, cowboy.

After fattening up the cow a.k.a. ME, we started to drive
out to Minnesota but not without stopping over at this really old funky Western
complex called Wall Drug, in a town called Wall. The place transports you back
to the old Mid-West setting when people had spurs on their boots and do gun
duels in the middle of a dirt road.

I ain't sayin' she a gold diggah, but she ain't messin' with no broke, broke.

Mounted trophies and stuffed animals make an interesting
décor to this souvenir slash convenience store slash food parlor. And when I say interesting, I mean scared shhh-less interesting.

The buffalo head leads to another room where the food parlor is at.

Across the other room, next to the food parlor, is a souvenir shop where they have stuff like--- Holy crap, real rabbit's foot. Wait 'til Bugs Bunny hears
about this.

Rattle snake tail. I thought this was fake, but it is 100%
real. Shiver.

Lotion made from Buffalo tallow. Hmm. I know it may be all
psychological but it smelled kinda weird…like… a buffalo smell to it.

Their version of putting Windex on everything.

Okay, on to less gross stuff and cute novelty items like
these Coke collectibles.

Dream Catchers

Old fashioned candy, taffy and popcorn.

It was a great day but an exhausting one as well. I wish I
stayed longer to explore Rapid City but time was not on our side so I’m now settled in
for the night in Minnesota, which ate up the rest of our day to travel to. I
just had some homemade bread and some great rhubarb pie---you know what that
means! S.S.B. (Sakit Sa Baboy) time. To roughly translate it, Sakit (sickness) + sa (of) + Baboy (pig) = sickness of
the pig. Because you know, after you pig out, you tend to get sleepy.